All our pottery currently comes out of Lombok, Indonesia where for centuries they have hand made some of the nicest looking rustic designs in the world. The actual clay in Lombok and the Sasak region is of superior quality and allows the artist to form very high end pieces.
The women of the villages are the potters, working by hand with rags, sticks and obsidian stones to form the beautiful clay we bring to you. As is the tradition, no potter’s wheels are used to this day. The clay is coiled and crudely shaped into the vessels original form then is smoothed and finely shaped into a vase. After several days of sun drying, the vase is burnished multiple times to bring a high smooth surface. The vases are then low fired in pits, covered in rice straw, some wood chunks and coconut hulls, all adding to the unique color of the finished vase. When the vases have cooled enough to handle, the men set them out in the sun and spray them with tamarind juice, which bonds to the pouris clay and makes the finished color we bring to market.
This year we are introducing several new styles of pottery from the same region. The new “white clay” is achieved by making the vase in the traditional fashion and then adding a ceramic slip over the outside layer. This gives us a white surface after it is fired. From there we can etch into the brown clay below, add tamarind spots to the outside, to create a softer white or etch only into the white slip to make three different feels. These pieces coming in late fall 2005 will be one of a kind, since we are still honing the process.
Lombok has never been known for painting clay but we have changed all that. We are taking simple clay vessels and adding old world European designs, antiqued right into the clay. Our first samples looked like they were from the 1800’s. If you enjoy this look as much as we do, I am sure we will expand on it rapidly.
Finally for our Southwest clients, we have created our own fabric which is glued to the vase and then lacquered on in several painstaking coats. This pottery we call batiked and are very excited by the results.
All our pottery is guaranteed against breakage until you receive it. Slight variations in color and size are natural, as all items are hand made.
Some customers mention that they do not like the dark kiln burns on some of our vases, we see this as a selling point, only pit fired vases can have such markings and is part of the soul of the pot, however if you do not wish to have any in your order, please state so when placing your order and we will do our best to accommodate you. However some color variances are unavoidable.